Unions join the debate on fair elections

As we heard yesterday, the debate inside the government is stepping up ahead of a crucial Parliamentary Labour Party's meeting on Monday. So we're pleased the Trade Unions Congress has stepped into the breach to give their commrades a few lessons about fair votes.

TUC General Secretary Brendon Barber echoes what we've been saying for months. In the forward to a new report Getting it in Proportion? he argues that “voting systems can have a real impact on the lives of ordinary people.”

Reform, to quote Barber, is now “not just a ‘chattering class’ issue.” The TUC has not even discussed the matter of reform for over 50 years.

We welcome the unions stepping up to the biggest debate in Westminster. Groups that have never given electoral reform a second thought are standing up to be counted. This isn’t about pie charts or acronyms. This is about the quality of government, the quality of our MPs and the ultimately the power we all have come polling day.

Let's hope Ed Balls and his allies are listening.